Inflatable pad



y 7, 1953 E. c. CHAMPAGNE 2,644,449

INFLATABLE PAD Filed June 5, 1952 s Sheets-Sheet 1 BY W I ATTORNEYS i I INVVENTOL July 7, 1953 E. c. CHAMPAGNE INFLATABLEPAD 3 Sheets$hee 2 Filed June 3, 1952 lv 3 I ATTORNEY5 July 7, 1953 E. c. l-IAMPAGNE I 2,544,449

INFLATABLE PAD Filed 'June 3, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN ENTOR Patented July 7, 1953 4 444 INFLATABLE PAD Emory 0. Champagne, Woodbridge, C'onn., as-

' s i' r to T Berger Brothers Qonu en New Whim l-3 23: 148

Thi n i n r t sis a in a a ee an more particularly to an article of this character of bellows-like construction which may be'applied to a portion of the body in order to give support or uplift to the organs of thebody and apply pressure thereo. 'lfhe' pad is adapted to be secured to a body-encircling garment, for example, orto have body-encircling straps secured thereto in order to hold it in position, and conems n l t b bla der wh ch m y be i a e to h P n s ur 5. tha it ma be xr'an t9 he i e si e-Q I f in many instances it is desired to support or elevate some of the organs in the abdominal region of 'thhe body, and in. some instances rigid pads have been employed for this purpose. 'It is, however, difiicult to provide pads of this char-- acter which may be universally used in that it is often necessary that they difier in size, thickness and in other ways according to the requirements of the individual case. Also, a pad made in the ordinary way is comparatively unyielding and is not adjustable either as to thickness or as to the pressure which may be exerted upon the organs of the body. I

It is contemplated by the present invention to provide an inflatable pad which may either be secured to the inner surface of a body-encircling garment or be provided with body-encircling straps s that it may besecuredinplace to exert pressure on the desired region; The pad, as .illustrated, is 'of. bellowselike construction, .of greater thickness at the? lower .portionlthat .an the -upper portion, and is adapted to' contain a .bladder which may be inflated to any desired pressure so that :the proper pressure or uplift' force will be exerted on the body of the wearer. The walls of the pad arepreferablymade of material which will have a certain amount of rigidity but which at the same timewill be mold'able or bendable to a certain extent .so that these walls, formed in the present instance by metal plates,.may be bent or molded to theproper shape t conform to the shape of the body at the region where the pad is applied. With thisconstruction thewall of the pad will beisuficiently .rigid so that itwillnot be deformed by the pressure With- .in the bladderand will exertequalpressure upon the parts of the .body with which it'is'in contact. Moreover, as it is .freeto expand .to .agreater extent at its lower portion than at its -,upper I that a. compellin pressure may be. exerted in 2 t l u war end/Q; fi erd e ain f the abd nal organs; for example, the kidneys.

able desired, therebin'g provided an openinghaving zipp'ersor detachable fasteners by which it may be readily closed. In one form of the invention the padis made in two n'early equal parts, the z p e weed su s ant a ir l around the structure so that it"ma'y be completely opened id re WeQ i f e i th ad e one s ee of he e' eni bnis to Pr vi a n aridiuipfoved able pad employed to exert int mated/ w. s re 011 the Organs of th'e'bod'y'."

A still furtherv object of the invention is to provide an inflatable pas of thischaracter adapted to beused- 'withabody1encirc1ing strap or garment, the pad beingv inflatable so'that the pressure against the body may be regujlated'to the e ire ext t i Astill rfurtilier object of; the invention is to provide an inflatable pad of the character described, one or both of the walls ofj wh'ich is bendable or rnoldable so that the pad may be'shaped to the configuration of the portion of the body at which it is pp ed while atfthe same time be sufiiciently d to 6 'body.

"'fstill anotherobject offtheinvention is to prodof t he character described,

he s wide a h b tn at upon inflation thereof an "iipwaid'as well an inward pressure will be exe t d a as "b 35 brew Tethese ndbihr l'i s he in n i n consists in th nqv l ea ures and c mb nat n r par to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig.1 is a side 'elevational view of an inflatable .pad embodyingpmy invention;

lfigl z isan' "end view thereof;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view 'ofthe pad;

Ifi. 4! is an, enlargedsectional view on line rig)" 5 'isian'elevational view of the inflatable bladd r 'r mev q ro we Pad! T Fi fi'ie e ysf iect ve' iiew i the pa sh boqyi n ir lifi rap xseciired to t e fr t r Outer wal ere Fi 5 answers v ew .Q a modified form pf structuref I a illustrated, bladder is readily removfrom the pad and replaced by another if gertpressurte that area of; the

Fig. 9 is a transverse sectional view through the pad on line 99 of Fig. 7.

To illustrate one embodiment of my invention I have shown in Figs. 1 to 6 of the drawings an inflatable pad comprising a bellows-like bag or pouch 10. This member comprises front and back walls H and [2, these walls being joined by a fabric strip l3 sewed to the wall members at its edges. As illustrated, the fabric strip [3 is wider at the bottom than at the top and tapers upwardly at its ends so that the bellows structure, when inflated, is wedge shaped or wider at the bottom than at the top, as shown for example in Figs. 2 and 4. I

As shown more especially in the sectional view of Fig. 4 each of the side walls H and [2 comprises a relatively rigid plate 15, which may be formed of metal or plastic. As shown, it ismade of tempered aluminum although it is not restricted to this material. It will preferably, however, be' made of a material Which may be bendable or moldable so that it may be bent or formed to the desired shape depending upon the part of the body to which it is applied, and when bent or molded will remain in the shape which has been given to it.

Each side of each of the metal plates 15 is covered with cloth or fabric, as shown at l6 and 17, these pieces of fabric being sewed together all around the peripheries of the plate, as shown at 18, and the edges of the strip [3 may also be sewed to the peripheral edges of the wall coverings l6 and H. A binding strip 19 may cover these seams in order to provide a finished exterior appearance.

As shown more especially in Fig. 3 the strip i3 is cut away at the bottom of the pouch or pocket l and a zipper strip 20 is secured to the edges of the opening thus formed by the stitches or pocket in will extend out through an opening 26 at the upper central portion of the strip [3.

It will'be understood that the bladder may be inserted and removed'from the pad through the opening controlled by the zipper 22.

In Figs. 7 to 9 of the drawings I have shown a somewhat modified form of my invention in which, as before,-the pocket or pouch consists of the side walls H and 42, these walls comprising bendable or moldable plates I of metal or some other rigid material which may be bent to the desired form and retain such form as was explained in connection with the modification of my invention first described. These plates have inner and outer fabric coverings l6 and H, as previously described. It has, however, been found desirable to place some soft padding material such as foam rubber or the like 21 between the plate and the cover 16 on the side of the pad adapted to be worn next to the body. In this case also the outer cover ll may be of some soft material such as plush or moleskin in order to make it more comfortable. Also a relatively thin padding member 28 may be provided upon the other wall of the bellows between the plate 15 and th outer covering 11.

In this form of my invention the two walls of the pad have secured thereto fabric strips 29 and- 30, the former, as shown, being of somewhat greater width than the latter. At the meeting edges of these strips zipper or hookless fasterens 31 are provided, these extending entirely around the edges of the strips and securing them together except at their central portions where the ends 32 are left unsecured and drawn outwardly to accommodate the filling tube 25 of the bladder 24, as shown in Figs. '7 and 8. A fiy 33 is secured to the strip 29 to cover the zipper 3i and protect the bladder.

It will be seen that in this form of my invention also the pad is considerably wider at its lower portion than at its upper portion so that when inflated it will exert an upward lift upon the body organs as well as exert pressure thereon.

The pad may be applied to the body by being worn. within an encircling garment such as a belt and the pad secured to the inner surface of the belt. If desired, however, body-encircling straps 35 (Fig. 6) may be secured to one wall of the pad and the straps may be fastened about the body so as to secure the pad in place and cause it to exert the necessary pressure upon the body organs.

t will be understood that the pad may be inflated through the filler tube 25 which may be provided with the usual self-sealing valve (not shown) for this purpose, and the bladder may be inflated to any desired pressure to give the proper support or the proper degree of pressure to the body organs. The width of the strip 13 or the combined width of the strips 29 and 30 in the other form of my invention determine the separating movement which is permitted the two walls of the pad, and varying the width and shape of this strip will vary to some extent the direction of thrust and the degree of pressure applied to the body.

In Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings I have shown the Walls of the pouch dished inwardly at their central portions with respect to their outer lateral edges, while in Fig. 6 a reverse condition is shown wherein the walls are bulged outwardly at their central portions or are convex in form in horizontal section. These shapes may be obtained as previously explained by bending the Wall members or plates l5 so as to obtain the desired shape depending upon the part of the body to which the pad is to be applied.

While I have shown and described some pre ferred embodiments of my invention, it will be understood that itv is not to be limited to all of the details shown, but is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the claims.

What I claim is:

1. An inflatable pad for applying pressure to a portion of the body, said pad including a pouch having an inflatable bladder therein, said pouch having front and back wall members of relatively rigid material.

2. An inflatable pad for applying pressure to a portion of the body. said pad including a pouch having an inflatable bladder therein, said pouch having front and back wall members of relatively rigid material, and the material of at least one thereof being moldable to form the wall into a desired shape.

3. An inflatable pad for applying pressure to a portion of the body, said pad including a pouch having an inflatablebladder'therein, said pouch lower edge and provide a wedge-shaped body.

4. An inflatable pad for applying pressure to a portion of the body, said pad including a pouch having an inflatable bladder therein, said pouch having front and back wall members of relatively rigid material, said material being moldable whereby the walls may be formed into the desired shape, and said walls being secured together by a strip of flexible material to form a wedgeshaped body wider at the lower edge than at the upper edge.

5. An inflatable pad for applying pressure to a portion of the body, said pad including a pouch having an inflatable bladder therein, said pouch having front and back wall members of relatively rigid material, said wall members being bendable into the desired form and adapted to retain such form, and being connected at their edges by a non-elastic flexible material to form a wedgeshaped body.

6. An inflatable pad for applying pressure to a portion of the body, said pad including a pouch having aninflatable bladder therein, said pouch having front' and back wall members of relatively rigid material, said wall members being bendable into the desired form and adapted to retain such form and. being connected at their edges by a non-elastic flexible material to form a, wedge-shaped body, and said flexible material having a zippered opening through which the bladder may be removed or replaced.

'7. An inflatable pad for applying pressure to a portion of the body, said pad including a pouch having an inflatable bladder therein, saidpouch having front and back wall members of relatively rigid material, said wall members being bendable into the desired form and adapted to retain such form and being connected at their edges by a non-elastic flexible material to form a wedgeshaped body, and said flexible material being provided in two sections the meeting edges of which are connected by a detachable fastener whereby the pouch may be fully opened to permit access to the interior thereof.

8. An inflatable pad for applying pressure to a portion of the body, said pad including a pouch having an inflatable bladder therein, said pouch having front and back wall members of relatively rigid material, said wall members being bendable into the desired form and adapted to retain such form, and being connected at their edges by a non-elastic flexible material to form a wedgeshaped body, and :a relatively thick yieldable cover pad on the outer surface of one of said wall members.

9. An inflatable pad for applying pressure to a portion of the body, said pad including a pouch having an inflatable bladder therein, said pouch having front and back wall members of relatively References Cited the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,240,308 Mah Apr. 29, 1941 2,493,406 Hicks, III Jan. 3, 1950 2,609,177

Hughes r Sept. 2, 1952 

